Players from Big Sandy celebrate their win in the area round.

EMORY — No. 4 Big Sandy went into the locker room for halftime trailing 25-22 to Merit Bland in a Class 2A area round basketball contest at Rains High School.

The second half was a different story.

The Wildcats scored 47 points in the final 24 minutes on the way to a 69-47 victory.

With Bland leading 34-33 with 4:33 on the clock, Big Sandy went on a 14-0 run. The run started with a floater and a free throw by Elijah Beard and was capped by a steal and layup from Gabriel Lemons.

Bland’s Dale Ivy made a layup in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter, but Big Sandy led 47-36 entering the fourth quarter.

“We made a couple of tweaks, not anything major,” Big Sandy head coach Kerry Strong said. “I thought our role players were nervous at the beginning. At half, we told them to relax, have fun and play the way we have all season.

“In the second half, we did a much better job. The third quarter was huge. I thought the kids responded well.”

The Wildcats opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run with six of the points coming from Josiah Johnson, and Joshua Shipman adding a 3-pointer.

Big Sandy got the lead to more than 20 points for good when Shipman scored inside and then followed with a 3-pointer with 3:35 remaining.

Johnson finished with 39 points, 17 rebounds, eight steals and five assists.

Johnson scored 12 of his points in the opening quarter. Bland’s Kyle Poe had 12 of his own in the quarter — all on threes — as the teams were tied at 14.

After Big Sandy took a 19-16 lead after a triple by Shipman and a layup from Johnson, Poe’s fifth 3-pointer sparked a 7-0 Bland run.

Johnson had a 3-point play to cut the score to 23-22, but Bland’s Gabriel Butler had a putback in the final seconds to give the Tigers a 25-22 lead at halftime.

Poe finished with 17 points — 15 in the first half — for Bland. Ivy had 11 points.

Shipman scored 14 points for Big Sandy, hitting four 3-pointers.

Big Sandy (28-4) will play either Clarksville or North Hopkins in the regional quarterfinals.

———

Big Sandy 69, Merit Bland 47

Bland 14 11 11 11 — 47

Big Sandy 14 8 25 22 — 69

BLAND — Kyle Poe 17, Dale Ivy 11, Channing Godwin 8, Tyler Moody 4, Timothy Wooten 5, Gabriel Butler 2.

BIG SANDY — Caden Minter 5, Elijah Beard 3, Gabriel Lemons 6, Joshua Shipman 14, Josiah Johnson 39, Carter Oswalt 2.